By Kimberly Gasuras
When Margie Mason read her son’s Christmas list he created in his kindergarten class, she knew her work was cut out for her.
Six-year-old Anthony Wayne Cook Hardwick had written the model number of a fire alarm on his list of gifts he wanted to receive from Santa Claus.
“I didn’t know what to do,” Mason said. “The ones I found online were too expensive and not the one he wanted.”
She then made a phone call to the Bucyrus Fire Department.
“The guy I talked to seemed shocked that anyone would call to inquire about a fire alarm,” Mason said with a laugh.
The man she spoke to was acting fire chief Chad Schwemley.
“I remembered that we had a box of fire alarms here at the station,” Schwemley said.
He called Mason back right away and she picked up the fire alarm in time for Christmas.
“Anthony is low on the autism spectrum and suffers from congenital scoliosis, but that doesn’t stop him,” Mason said. “He may not be able to play sports like other kids his age, but he can play the keyboard like nobody’s business and he is so smart.”
Mason said she bought her son his first tablet at age two.
“He watches videos then takes things apart and puts them back together. It was vacuum cleaners and now it is fire alarms that he is fascinated with,” Mason said. “Even though noises, especially loud ones, bother him, he is obsessed with fire alarms and wants to be a firefighter and a doctor when he grows up.”
Mason said she refused the wiring that came with the fire alarm.
“I just knew that he would cut a hole in one of our walls and hook the thing up,” Mason said.
Last week, Anthony went to the fire station to meet Schwemley.
“This is really cool,” said the wide-eyed boy as he checked out fire alarms that hang on the wall in the office area of the Bucyrus Fire Department.
Schwemley explained that Ken Mead of Mead Electronics has given the department several fire alarms over the years including call boxes that were used a century ago.
“There were call boxes all over town and if there was a fire, people would pull the lever in the call box. The alarms were numbered with indicators at the station that would tell the firefighters the location of the fire,” Schwemley said.
Anthony’s grandmother, Mary Mason, said she recently moved to Bucyrus, but was born in Cleveland.
“I love this town. It is such a welcoming and nice community and the school system is excellent,” Mary Mason said. “This fire department has been so wonderful to go the extra mile to help a child.”
Schwemley said he never hesitates to help a child.
“We do the food and toy drive at Christmas for kids and Spooktacular at Halloween. We are very happy that we had fire alarms that we could offer to make Anthony’s Christmas special,” Schwemley said as he began a tour of the station and fire trucks with the very excited little boy.